


Everyone Just Wants To Tame You

by slightlyjillian



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-09
Updated: 2010-02-09
Packaged: 2017-10-07 03:17:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightlyjillian/pseuds/slightlyjillian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-EW. Nichol finds himself constantly assigned to work with Zechs. And then the Preventers mission goes terribly awry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everyone Just Wants To Tame You

The station was busy, bodies moved in tight lines with their luggage held close to their sides, a few children might step over the tape on the floor to be hastily pulled back by anxious adults. Evacuation had been called. Everyone had to leave the colony.

On the opposite side of the glass wall, Douglas Nichol considered the civilians and their unnatural quietness. If this had been Earth, the men would have been shouting, money exchanged for better seats, the children crying, animals... but there weren't animals. Those who were born and raised on the colony drilled for evacuations ever since the first colony was hung in space.

He'd drawn the unlucky card to follow Zechs Marquise down the empty streets. The units were split under various commanders and Zechs wasn't known for working well with a team. They were certain that Zechs would be as ready to ditch them so as to work by himself. Nichol had a backup plan for if that happened. He'd been in the briefing room too. Sweep to make sure everyone was gone. Then scan for amplification tech, although the structural integrity of the older station would certain be compromised if even one of the braces crumbled.

The mission was a farce to make the Preventers look good and useful. The best thing they could have done, evacuate the civilians, was already in the can.

The rest was waiting for the inevitable.

The lights went out briefly, but were back up in a few seconds.

The darkness felt like an eternity.

"Nichol." The voices called him back to his team with the rest of the Preventers. He wasn't certain what they were going to accomplish. The threat to the colony wasn't going to be solved. In twenty-hours, this point is space was going to be starless black.

***

"Clear." Then again from the next house. "Clear."

Nichol lifted his hand to diminish the shine of the artificial sunlight. It seemed like a normal day. They were lucky that the Winner Foundation ran specs on the colonies. Others could be repaired. This one was doomed. Then they'd received the video threats to recreate Operation Meteor with the colony. Kids, it had to be stupid kids. The ones who didn't remember the war and thought Operation M was a nice joke. Because it didn't happen.

But it nearly had.

"Clear," Nichol reported from the doorstep of the house he'd just reviewed. It still had furniture and family pictures on the wall. An eerie chill settled over him as if the ghosts of the family somehow stayed behind and watched his back.

"You're Nichol?" The ghost turned out to be Zechs. Nichol shuffled sideways trying to hide his reflexive jump.

"Yeah, that's me. Sir." He added the last hastily.

Zechs nodded as if that meant something and was all he had to say. Nichol rounded up the rest of the team and paced them through the tech to make sure they understood the controls. Zechs kept to the side with his arms crossed. When the junior officers scattered in their teams of two, Zechs said, "I wasn't certain what to expect."

"From what, sir?"

Zechs pondered the question and Nichol wondered if Zechs had conversations or if he only said cryptic things to keep a soldier on his toes. The scanner of his own device whined from being held motionless for so long. Nichol turned a half circle and the equipment calmed again.

"You."

"Me?" Nichol raised his eyebrows and barely kept to a short chuckle. "I don't know what you mean."

"We have similar histories. Going against our oaths..."

"Hang on," Nichol frowned. "Speak for yourself. I have never betrayed an oath. Une herself said that I followed orders. That's beyond dispute." Then Nichol broke off, his ears burned. He didn't need to be having this conversation. He didn't expect to have an analysis of what was, for Nichol anyway, water far gone under the bridge.

"My mistake."

_Darn right,_ Nichol walked away. The cheerful chirping of the scanner a more welcome sound.

***

The Preventers regrouped. The amplification threat was determined to be _exaggerated_, so Nichol allowed himself to roll loose the tension that had tightened his shoulders.

"Hey, Nichol." Trowa Barton had appeared at his side in the crowd of Preventer uniforms. "I heard that Zechs was chatting you up."

"Good grief, Barton." Nichol bumped their shoulders roughly. "Don't spread that rumor."

"Too late. It's already making the rounds." Trowa's grin turned devious. No matter what the public thought about their war hero, Nichol knew better.

"So why wasn't I on your team. Or my own? I have as many stripes as Thomas and he had twenty of the new kids in his watch." Nichol pondered.

"He requested you."

"Oh," Nichol's eyes darted around looking for the subject of their conversation but Zechs was no where to be seen. "That's just fabulous. Any idea why?"

"Maybe he likes you."

"Shut it," Nichol hissed. "Or I'll tell people that Cathy's your sister."

"No really, think about it," Trowa went on. "Besides Noin, Zechs has only been close to one other person. And with his reputation..."

"That's about it," Nichol interjected.

"Come on," Trowa chuckled, mischievously. "What's that joke you used to tell about Heero Yuy and the Lightning Count with their robotic flirting."

Nichol pretended not to remember.

***

The Preventers were so exciting that the intramural sports teams were the only way they could work out their aggression. The abandoned colony still hung like a star in the sky over the fields where the baseball teams were shouting at each other. Nichol could care less about baseball, but somehow his team had stayed in the top two and he _did not want to lose_. The inning had taken a turn for the worse when Barton brought in two runs.

"I hate you, Barton." Nichol shouted over the ruckus from the other dugout. The lean man smirked and blew a kiss.

"Excuse me, sir?" A trembling clipboard was put into Nichol's chest. The request for assignment acceptance was in the hands of one of the office administrators. She must have run down from the main building.

"What is it?" Nichol sighed heavily, trying not to let his hot-headed sportsmanship drift into his responsibilities.

His eyes scanned the paper and his face grew purple. "This can't be happening."

***

"Quitting? Game over?" Trowa followed into the locker room a few minutes later. "What's happening, Nichol?"

Under the shower head, Nichol kept his head bent forward letting the water drip down to his toes. At his side and just out of the spray, Trowa leaned against the cement wall.

"Want to start from the beginning?" Trowa asked.

"I've got orders."

"Immediate ones. What would pull you away from our game. It's not like anything exciting happens anymore." Trowa flicked his finger against Nichol's temple. "Hey, tell me."

"It's too much, Barton," Nichol groaned. Then turned his face up toward the water, before looking to his side. Squinting he said, "I'd just as well no one knows. Secret mission."

Trowa raised his brow, "Seriously? And they gave it to you?"

"I was requested." Nichol didn't say anything more. He couldn't given the seal stamped on the order. But confidential didn't mean he couldn't _hint_ to his best, if unlikely, friend.

Trowa's eyes widened. "No way, you're kidding me."

"Yeah, if only."

***

"Who else is on this team?" Nichol walked into the debrief room. His hair still in wet coils from his hurry from the showers. Zechs sat at the desk in the front. He'd put one boot up and was reading from a manila file. The room looked like a high school classroom complete with impractical little desks facing a video screen. The dynamics always put Nichol's teeth on edge. He understood authority. He didn't like it lorded over him.

"It's a run up and back." Zechs didn't look up. "Just the two of us."

"Aye, aye," Nichol responded, his gaze shifting to look out the window. He could almost make out the figures at the makeshift diamond. Someone was running the bases. At that distance, he couldn't make out the similar looking uniforms to know what team was pulling in more runs.

Silently, Zechs appeared at Nichol's side. Once again Nichol's heart skipped beats from surprise. Zech's had very blue eyes, but the expression was cold.

"Ready, soldier?"

"Yes, sir."

***

Nichol would have rather passed the entire mission in silence and returned as if it never happened, but he found it difficult to remain silent without becoming curious. Zechs had let him pilot the shuttle. They'd taken two mobile suits in the hold, armed Tauruses which were the last to be decommissioned. But to that point, Zechs had failed to give any mission details.

"Why?" Nichol asked as the quiet became too much. "What's the objective, sir?"

"I suppose you've noticed that the L-1 Colony we evacuated is still in the sky?" Zechs said, monotone without looking up from the same manila folder as before.

"Yes, I noticed."

"We've received a report that someone went back. We're going to flush them out."

Nichol considered that information. "A two man team? How many got back on the colony?"

"Our job is to prevent that colony from hitting Earth, the moon or anything else. We'll give them a chance to get off, and then we're going to trigger a controlled explosion. Can you handle those orders?"

The last word lingered without any emphasis, but Nichol knew it had been intentionally chosen.

"Orders are clear," he replied.

***

When Zechs went to the back to change into his flight suit, Nichol noticed the file sitting on the empty seat. He glanced at the closed door, then leaned over to lift the edge on the front. Inside was a mostly blank first page except for a set of names. One of which was Douglas Nichol, age twenty-two. From when he was on Barge, then. Page two was a transcript of his conversations with Une, Trowa Barton, the staff in the cafeteria. Everything.

Nichol had known surveillance was tight, but he hadn't realized it was so thorough. He whistled.

Once again, the shadow fell over him before Nichol heard the sound of Zechs approaching.

"So I take it you've been reading up on me," Nichol said, no use denying his curiosity about the file. "You could have just asked."

"Really?" Zechs lifted the documents and sat again. "Go change."

"Really, what do you want to know?" Nichol said, lightly, although he felt on edge from the detailed scrutiny he didn't want to show it.

"Maybe I should let you ask questions of me." Zechs responded.

As Nichol thought over that comment the temperature of the shuttle seemed to drop twenty degrees. So he said, "I'll go put on my suit."

***

"Call the colony on a multi-purpose frequency to see if they're going to respond." Zechs told Nichol when he got back. Nichol rubbed at the links at his wrist making sure they were secure before he punched his code into the communications controls.

"This is the Preventers, Officer Nichol speaking. Please surrender to our authority, making your location known to us. We will pick you up for evacuation and transport back to Earth for judicial consideration." Nichol paused. "The colony will be destroyed in two hours."

He leaned back making a lot of noise in the plastic of the space suit. Turning to look at Zechs, Nichol added, "Now what?"

"We'll give them fifteen minutes then start setting the explosives."

***

"Flirting with mobile suits," Nichol muttered to himself as the arms of the Taurus slowly pulled another of the charges from the loosely netted bundle that he carried around the outer ring. It snapped into place and he released enough fuel to drift to the next flash point.

The video link opened and Nichol blinked in surprise. "Zechs?" Had the other man heard? Was the channel open? Nichol glanced at the switch but wasn't sure how it had been set before Zechs triggered the connection.

"I'm finished with the central towers."

Nichol blew a frustrated breath through his nose, "It's taking me a little longer. I have six more."

"Fine, I'll see you back at the shuttle." Zechs cut his transmission, but the image only flickered out for a moment to be replaced with another face. Male. Dark hair.

Nichol stared, "Who are you?" Then with a moment to collect himself added, "The colony is condemned and set for destruction. Where are you and we'll take you off the station."

The man glanced off screen, then looked at Nichol directly, "You'll have to come get us. We've managed to get power to docking on the second level section twelve."

"_Managed_ to get?" Nichol repeated. "Please confirm." But the connection went black.

Nichol punched his code and tried to reach Zechs, but the man didn't respond. He must have been between the Taurus and the shuttle controls. _I have to_ leave a message? He thought with an edge of irritation. He tried to work under other commanders, but sometimes he wished he could run his own unit. He was ready.

"I'm sending you a copy of the transmission I received from the person on the colony. Going to the place he mentioned to analyze the situation if you could join us there with the shuttle. It looks like we'll get them off the colony in time." Nichol sent the recording and his comments.

Five charges unset, Nichol left them tethered to the colony and moved to the rendezvous point.

Later, he would consider the criminals as more clever than they first appeared.

He put his Taurus inside the colony far enough for his suit to be struck with a focused electronic energy weapon and Nichol slumped over in his seat, unconscious.

***

The sounds of a scuffling were the first things Nichol heard. A crack, a crash, and then Nichol felt the mattress dip and rise as if someone had sat next to him, except the weight suddenly disappeared. More noises. Nichol tried lifting his arm to rub open his eyes. He couldn't. Then he turned his head too quickly to the side causing a flash of pain, which did, after a fashion help his vision focus on the ropes tying his hands to the bed. Both wrists together. Nichol twisted even as his arms ached from the uncomfortable angles.

He was in a small room. In a house. On the colony, the memories came back quickly then. The figure in the distant shadow was Zechs leaning over a crumpled figure. Two. Three men on the floor.

"Hey, not bad." Nichol licked his dry lips. His mouth still prickled. His legs were bound at the ankles. He tried lifting his weight and flopped back at what he hoped would be a more comfortable angle to see the room. Zechs turned around then.

"Yeah, some help here," Nichol blushed. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"They're looters. Wanted the shuttle to load their cargo, and then were going to let the explosives hide their theft." Zechs moved slowly. His hand came down to Nichol's cheek.

"Ropes are up here." Nichol wiggled his fingers.

"I'm sorry."

"They must have a knife in the kitchen," Nichol didn't understand. Zechs' thumb moved, but it seemed more intimate than anything else. "Nothing to be sorry about... go and look. I'll still be here."

"We have only a few minutes," Zechs informed.

Nichol's face went from feverish to deathly cold under the cool fingertips. "Oh."

"Would you like me to distract you?"

Nichol spit a laugh, "What?"

"I'll answer a question for you," Zechs sat down. His shoulders seemed heavy as if pulled down by the weight of holding onto too many unheard truths.

"I swear I can't see how... what?" Nichol's mind raced to keep up with the moment. Time was passing. The dead colony was going to crumble around them and then he'd be dead. "Like this, huh? Weird."

"You've got nothing to ask?"

Nichol felt shy, suddenly, then realized he could use a laugh. Boldly he shifted his head away from Zechs' hand and said, "You and Yuy, what's the scoop?"

Zechs face lit up with surprise. "Mobile suit flirting?"

"A guy has to wonder," Nichol muttered.

Zechs tried not to smile. "Yuy's not my type. Too young." He added. Then leaned forward to kiss Nichol.

"Uh, I wasn't expecting that." Nichol tried not to sound panicked. "End of the universe type of guy, huh? What if we live? Did you think of that?"

"We won't." Zechs covered Nichol's mouth with his hand and pulled away for only a few moments to consider Nichol's expression. Then his ice-colored eyes seemed to melt into the deeper blues of the ocean.

"Optimist..." Nichol grunted, but his mind wasn't on their problems anymore. "Maybe untie me first?"

"I'll consider it."

***

The first day back in his office, Nichol felt Trowa's eyes burning a hole into Nichol's forehead as if he could pull out the memories of Nichol's mission to the now demolished colony. The electronic surge that disabled Nichol and his Taurus had also delayed the countdown system for the network of bombs they'd placed on the station.

Once Zechs and Nichol had figured that out, they left the colony taking their prisoners with them and leaving an impressive, controlled, and completely undeadly display of fireworks behind them.

Due to over-staffing, Nichol shared his office with the younger man. Usually it was entertaining. That day, Nichol kept his fingers on the keyboard and labored over what to put into his report.

"Nichol, are you okay?" Trowa asked as the end of their shift approached.

"Just peachy." Nichol saved the file. Then, for the first time, looked at Trowa directly and smiled. "Planning when to reschedule that baseball game. You're going to lose."

"Don't joke," Trowa sounded worried. "What's different about you? Did something happen?"

"I'm fine."

"What about the rope burns? I heard he tied you down." Trowa gave a skeptical look, eyes narrowed and lips pursed to one side.

Nichol chuckled, but could feel his ears turning red. Trowa only knew the half of it. The question was, how much of the other half did he want Trowa to learn. "Think faster, Barton. If you want to eliminate question about consent... would you use ropes?"

He turned off his computer, picked up his coat and waved good-bye to Trowa who stayed at his desk.

Opening the door, Nichol found Zechs leaning just outside.

Nichol said, "Did you hear that?"

"Yes."

"And I heard you." Nichol waited for Zechs to catch up to him. "You're losing some of your mystery, Merquise."


End file.
